Definition of High Quality Staff Development
High Quality Professional Development
The following definition of professional development is an excerpt from the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
“(34) PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT.- The term ‘professional development’-
“(A) includes activities that –
“(i) improve and increase teachers’ knowledge of the academic subjects the
teachers teach, and enable teachers to become highly qualified;
“(ii) are an integral part of broad schoolwide and districtwide educational
improvement plans;
“(iii) give teachers, principals, and administrators the knowledge and skills to provide students with the opportunity to meet challenging State academic content
standards and student academic achievement standards;
“(iv) improve classroom management skills;
“(v)(I) are high quality, sustained, intensive and classroom-focused in order to have a positive and lasting impact on classroom instruction and the teacher’s
performance in the classroom, and;
“(II) are not 1-day or short-term workshops or conferences;
“(vi) support the recruiting, hiring, and training of highly qualified teachers, \
Including teachers who became highly qualified through State and local alternative routes to certification;
“(vii) advance teacher understanding of effective instructional strategies that are-
“(I) based on scientifically based research (except that this subclause shall not
apply to activities carried out under part D or title II); and
“(II) strategies for improving student academic achievement or substantially
increasing the knowledge and teaching skills of teachers; and
“(viii) are aligned with and directly related to
“(I) State academic content standards, student academic achievement standards,
and assessments, and
“(II) The curricula and programs tied to the standards described in subclause (I)
except that this subclause shall not apply to activities described in clauses (ii)
and (iii) of section 2123(3)(B);
“(ix) are developed with extensive participation of teachers, principals, parents, and administrators of schools to be served under this Act:
“(x) are designed to give teachers of limited English proficient children, and other
teachers and instructional staff, the knowledge and skills to provide instruction
and appropriate language and academic support services to those children,
including the appropriate use of curricula and assessments;
“(xi) to the extent appropriate, provide training for teachers and principals in the use of technology so that technology and technology applications are effectively used in the classroom to improve teaching and learning in the curricula and core
academic subjects in which the teachers teach;
“(xii) as a whole, are regularly evaluated for their impact on increased teacher
effectiveness and improved student academic achievement, with the findings of
the evaluations used to improve the quality of professional development;
“(xiii) provide instruction in methods of teaching children with special needs;
“(xiv) include instruction in the use of data and assessments to inform and instruct
classroom practice; and
“(xv) include instruction in ways that teachers, principals, pupil services personnel, and school administrators may work more effectively with parents, and
“(B) may include activities that-
“(i) involve the forming of partnerships with institutions of higher education to
establish school-based teacher training programs that provide perspective
teachers and beginning teachers with an opportunity to work under the guidance
of experienced teachers and college faculty;
“(ii) create programs to enable paraprofessionals (assisting teachers employed by a local educational agency receiving assistance under part A of title I) to obtain the education necessary for those paraprofessionals to become certified and licensed teachers; and
“(iii) provide follow-up training to teachers and who have participated in activities described in subparagraph (A) or another clause of this subparagraph that are designed to ensure that the knowledge and skills learned by the teachers are implemented in the classroom.
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